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[Bloomberg] British Game Maker Supermassive Set to Lay Off 90 Workers

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Being sued right now, please help me find a lawyer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,869
British video-game maker Supermassive Games has informed 150 staff members that they are "at risk" of redundancy and will lay off roughly 90, the latest cuts to hit the gaming industry.

Labor laws in the UK require companies to give notice ahead of a mass layoff. Employees were informed of the coming job reductions on Monday morning, according to an email reviewed by Bloomberg News.
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www.bloomberg.com

British Game Maker Supermassive Set to Lay Off 90 Workers

British video-game maker Supermassive Games has informed 150 staff members that they are “at risk” of redundancy and will lay off roughly 90, the latest cuts to hit the gaming industry.
www.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com
 
vestan

vestan

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Dec 28, 2017
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View: https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1762121722369577183
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-maker-supermassive-set-to-lay-off-90-workers
British video-game maker Supermassive Games has informed 150 staff members that they are "at risk" of redundancy and will lay off roughly 90, the latest cuts to hit the gaming industry.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Labor laws in the UK require companies to give notice ahead of a mass layoff. Employees were informed of the coming job reductions on Monday morning, according to an email reviewed by Bloomberg News.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
Zukkoyaki

Zukkoyaki

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
11,426
Fuckin' hell, man. They're working on at least three games with multiple publishers and are still going through layoffs??
 
Super

Super

Studied the Buster Sword
Member
Jan 29, 2022
6,765
It's not ending anytime soon is it? Awful to see.
 
SnatcherHunter

SnatcherHunter

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
13,526
Just terrible news!!!

I wonder if this also why we haven't heard much on Season 2 of the Dark Anthology games.
 
RedAhmed

RedAhmed

Member
Jan 9, 2018
3,309
They don't want to be super massive anymore.





On a serious note, I'm fearing this will be the worst year in terms of lay-offs.
 
roly82

roly82

Member
Apr 2, 2019
1,494
Aren't they working on Dbd based game? I thought they were having profits with all of their actual projects.
 
SolidSnakeUS

SolidSnakeUS

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,726
90 is fucking awful. 90 is not nothing. 90 is fucking disgusting and this shit needs to stop. Fuck this man...
 
2CL4Mars

2CL4Mars

Member
Nov 9, 2018
1,721
Is this a domino effect? like "they have layoffs, we should have them too" kinda thing or is more of a economic situation?
 
JigglesBunny

JigglesBunny

Prophet of Truth
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Oct 27, 2017
31,240
Chicago
Hard to imagine there are people in the industry right now that aren't seriously considering jumping ship altogether.

Just an unprecedented loss of livelihoods over the last nine months.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
116,339
Well, shit. That's not good. A layoff that substantial makes me wonder if they lost a big contract.

I hope they aren't going the way of Telltale, but when I saw how many games they were working on all at once I definitely started to get that impression...
 
IDreamOfHime

IDreamOfHime

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,511
I thought something was up when we didn't get a new Dark Pictures game last fall, this is sad news though. They've made a bunch of cracking games. House of Ashes and Quarry are super fun and the original Until Dawn is an all time classic.
 

ColR100

Member
Jan 13, 2018
297
Damn, a couple of ex-colleagues work there and have been there for some time, that sucks big-time. Hope all the people affected manage to find new positions without too much trouble.

Kind of surprised about this though, as thought they were in very good health as a business.

It's very odd also that the two founders of Supermassive stepped away from the company less than a month ago. They were likely aware of what Nordisk Games was going to do with regards to cutting costs and people jobs.
 
Reckheim

Reckheim

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
9,446
JigglesBunny said:
Hard to imagine there are people in the industry right now that aren't seriously considering jumping ship altogether.

Just an unprecedented loss of livelihoods over the last nine months.
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I'd figure most people in the industry wont have much of a choice but to jump ship. The market has to be saturated with people looking for work.
 
LumberPanda

LumberPanda

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Feb 3, 2019
6,416
I get "we need the gambler class to buy our stonks this quarter by lowering our costs", but cutting 30% of your workforce will surely impact the ability to put out the product on time, significantly impacting revenue...
 

Harmen

Member
Aug 30, 2023
417
This sucks, I wish them all the best.

Hopefully the studio that remains will be able to continue. Isn't "150 at risk" like half the studio? That seems like a huge chunk of the workforce.

What is happening in the industry? There are so many layoffs.
 
The Gold Hawk

The Gold Hawk

Member
Jan 30, 2019
4,565
Yorkshire
Jesus, that's fucking awful. So many damn people. That's so bleak

This industry is trash

There's just gonna be worse and worse news isn't there.
 
Plinkerton

Plinkerton

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Nov 4, 2017
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Zukkoyaki

Zukkoyaki

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
11,426
My hunch is Dark Pictures Season 2 got axed. Aligns with the news that Bandai Namco is reassessing their line-up and cancelling some projects.

Little Nightmares and Frank Stone are probably fine since they're both slated for this year and have had proper reveals.
 
Dyle

Dyle

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
30,068
LumberPanda said:
I get "we need the gambler class to buy our stonks this quarter by lowering our costs", but cutting 30% of your workforce will surely impact the ability to put out the product on time, significantly impacting revenue...
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Presumably one of their projects was cancelled by its publisher, likely either Dark Pictures Season 2 or another Dark Pictures VR game.
 

ColR100

Member
Jan 13, 2018
297
Harmen said:
This sucks, I wish them all the best.

Hopefully the studio that remains will be able to continue. Isn't "150 at risk" like half the studio? That seems like a huge chunk of the workforce.

What is happening in the industry? There are so many layoffs.
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That 150 number isn't the amount who'll be losing their jobs, but rather the total 'pooling number' included in the collective consultation. The number which will be made redundant will be around 90.

So for example, someone may be in a 'pool' which contains all audio based positions, and then say 50% of them would lose their position, with those then unfortunately picked for redundancy being based on things like perf. reviews and skillset (in relation to on-going projects).
 
Hayeya

Hayeya

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,819
Canada
Damn, just finished Until Dawn and doing all endings and trophies.

Super fun game with fantastic production values.
Sad to hear about this.
 
Patitoloco

Patitoloco

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
23,714
I'm very sorry to hear this, good luck to all of those affected.

The Dark Pictures games are definitely not doing super great numbers, and The Quarry came and went very fast.

I think there's a particular magic with Until Dawn (in writing and gameplay, The Quarry is a major step back in terms of QTEs and exploration) that they haven't been able to replicate.
 
PucePikmin

PucePikmin

Member
Apr 26, 2018
3,819
Sucks to hear because I like their games, but I always kind of wondered how their business model functioned -- they make these fairly visually-impressive games with big-name voice acting, but I don't think they sell that well. I think The Quarry only sold in the 1 to 2 million range, and I assume the Dark Pictures games do less than that. Felt like some kind of reckoning was coming eventually.
 
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